For the record, I am not a men’s rights activist (MRA). In fact, I feel MRAs tend to exaggerate the plight of the modern man. That discussion, however, is not the purpose for this post. While surfing around YouTube, I came across a video by Karen Straughan, one of the better known men’s rights activists. This video was promo for a discussion on Honey Badger Radio about the feminist attack on video games. If you’ve been following the Anita Sarkeesian/Feminist Frequency fiasco, I recommend you give this discussion a listen.

I recently started watching videos by InternetAristocrat, a YouTube user who discusses a variety issues, most notably social justice. His latest video, episode 2 of ‘The Hugbox Chronicles’ is what brought my attention to Kat Bailey and her most recent article, “Yes, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Did Make Me Feel Uncomfortable”. I recommend my readers give this video a watch before continuing.

Finished watching? What more can I say that InternetAristocrat has not? For starters, both Kat Bailey and USgamer owe Dave Cox, the producer of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series, an apology. She purposefully misrepresented what he was saying to support her narrative that the “Family Scene” was “constructed with the intention of evoking sexual assault.” Cox has since responded to Bailey’s accusation, stating very clearly that the scene is not intended to be sexual, let alone evoke sexual assault.

That tweet, at the time of writing this post is fifteen hours old. When I asked Bailey about this on Twitter, she responded by saying that I didn’t understand the concept of subtext. Despite knowing of this tweet (I sent her the link to it during our exchange), Bailey has made no effort to correct or even amend her post. What does this say about her credibility? It’s obvious that she has no intention of being honest about the intention of the “Family Scene”. To Bailey, perverting the intention of this scene to push her social justice agenda (the tweet InternetAristocrat refers to), matters more to her than her credibility. Why should anyone trust a gaming journalist without any journalistic integrity?

If USgamer had any credibility, they would have already pulled this article or, at the very least, demanded Bailey set the record straight on the “Family Scene”. The fact that there hasn’t been any action taken by those in charge to address this issue speaks volumes. I understand that controversy helps bring traffic to the website, and with increased traffic comes increased advertising revenue, but how low are USgamer’s standards as to what is and isn’t acceptable that they’d allow this dishonest article to be published in the first place? This is the worst kind of click-baiting.

In the end, I have to say I share InternetAristocrat’s disgust with Kat Bailey and her dishonest article. She has hijacked the discussion about Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 to push her social justice agenda, slandering Dave Cox in the process. If the gaming community wants to be taken seriously, it must be willing to call out these activists for their blatant dishonesty. That also means calling out gaming websites like USgamer that promote this kind of dishonest activism. Until gamers are willing to do so, this nonsense will only get worse.

However this can all actually be ignored as other journalists at the same event along with the developers have come out and stated that Dracula actually feeds of each of the family members not only the woman.

If Bailey had been honest about what actually happens, she couldn’t push her social justice agenda. As commenter Gideon Venter stated, “People look for causes to champion. And invent them when they find none.”

And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:9-12

With all the Christmas shopping and other aggravations this year, let us take time to remember what we are celebrating. As a Catholic, I believe that two-thousand years ago, God sent us his son, our Saviour, who would not only teach us, but sacrifice himself for our salvation. It is hard not to be overwhelmed by the love this man had for all of us, regardless of who you are, Jew or gentile. His teachings would not only change the Roman Empire, but would shape the course of world history.

Even if you do not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God, especially if you’re an atheist, do not forget his words and actions. Take comfort in knowing that humanity can be taught, not just tolerance, but compassion. It is during Christmas that we see just how compassionate people can be. It is a time for giving gifts to loved ones and donations to the needy. There is no other time of the year that one can see such selfless behaviour.

Finished watching? If you felt that The Fifth Estate was not reporting this story fairly, you’re not alone. Kirk LaPointe of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO) issued a complaint to the CBC’s ombudsman after ‘Behind the Wall’ aired. You can read the complaint here. If you don’t have the time or patience to read the entire thing, here’s an except which says it all.

…This ideological bias effectively obscures the fact that front-line security staff may also suffer from the confusion of roles that may arise in treatment centres. Not once does the program pay attention to the overwhelming difficulties posed by violent mentally ill offenders; this could have been done by making room in the final cut of the program to interviewees that offer a more balanced analysis of the situation. Interveners such as Star Phoenix reporter Betty Ann Adam could, and certainly should, have been given a voice on the actual program. Rather, Ms. Adam was confined to a sidebar on The Fifth Estate website, perhaps because she did not serve the show’s predetermined conclusions…

It is clear that Hana Gartner and her team were not interest in honestly reporting the facts. They had a narrative they wished to push and they were not going to allow any inconvenient facts to get in the way. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that The Fifth Estate has found itself in legal trouble from time to time. That is the problem with this case and with advocacy journalism. The whole Ashley Smith fiasco, despite the facts of the case, is distorted by this politically-driven media. Now that that’s out of the way, let me get to the heart of this post.

The basic facts of the case are as follows: Ashley Smith, 19-years-old, died from self-strangulation at the Regional Psychiatric Centre (RPC) in Saskatoon on October 19, 2007. Ashley was originally sentenced to a 30-day sentence for assaulting a postal worker while on probation for previous offenses. That 30-day sentence later became a 4-year sentence after numerous assaults on correctional officers with makeshift weapons (ex: shards of glass which she hid on and inside herself) and her own feces. Ashley was transferred a total of 17 times since various facilities were ill-equipped to handle her. These are not facts which are up for debate, but the vast majority of reports I’ve read on this are dishonest in that they don’t mentioned her assaults on prison officials. This fact is important to understand why she died.

Ashley death, as stated above, was the result of self-strangulation. The question many are asking is why didn’t prison officials act quickly to save her life. As stated in the programs linked above, she would strangled herself in order to lure correctional officers into her prison cell so that she could attack them. Ashley had done this so frequently that prison officials decided, rightly or wrongly, that the best way of dealing with her when this occurred was to wait till she passed out, then go into her cell and revive her. As horrible as that sounds, it is not murder. Let’s not forget why Ashley was willing to strangle herself. I can’t imagine how any facility could deal with someone, mentally ill or not, who behaves in such a way. It sounds to me that the coroner’s inquest was more concerned with appearances than with the facts of the case. There could be hundreds of hours of footage showing Ashley being subdued by a team of correctional officers, but, as upsetting as they would be, that doesn’t change the fact that these drastic steps were taken because she was a dangerous inmate.

When one considers the coverage this case has received, it is no wonder that the coroner’s inquest would rule Ashley’s death a homicide. The media is more than willing to blame everything, not only her death, but her behaviour on the Canadian prison system. Ashley’s mental illness was not the fault of the Correctional Services Canada. In fact, considering her behaviour prior to being incarcerated, I’d like to know what steps her parents were taking to help her. Why didn’t they step in and stop Ashley when she told them that she was going to assault a postal worker? Why didn’t The Fifth Estate address the issue of their questionable parenting? By the time Ashley was first incarcerated, it was already too late to help her.

In the end, it is clear what is going to follow the ruling from the coroner’s inquest. I’d imagine that prison officials will be fired, law suits will be settled, empty promises made and, ultimately, this case will be forgotten. After is said and done, the media will pat itself on the back for “fighting the good fight” and move onto the next story they can sensationalize. No one will remember why Ashley Smith was originally locked up or what she did to correctional officers during her incarceration. It was already decided by a politically-driven media that she was an innocent victim. The narrative is paramount and the facts are secondary.

Found this pinned to an announcement board at Carleton University. Thank God for the horrible weather we’ve been having lately eh?

What’s puzzling about these ‘Occupy’ groups is that they really have no reason to come to Canada. The protests around the United States don’t even have a coherent message, so what’s the reason for starting protests here? We just had two elections recently, one federal and one provincial, so what’s this nonsense about “we will no longer remain silent.” If you voted, you weren’t “silent,” your political desires were heard. Like it or not, that’s how our political system works.

Shortly after protesters learned they’d be able to stay in Zuccotti Park indefinitely, violence broke out Friday morning as a group marched away from it.

Demonstrators clashed with officers while marching to Wall Street’s landmark Bull. Police said arrests — of which there were more than a dozen — were mainly for blocking traffic. Protesters chanted “The whole world is watching” during the arrests…

Does this really surprise anyone? This isn’t the first incident of violence we have seen so far, and I’m positive it won’t be the last.

In any event, residents of Ottawa will have to prepare themselves for the presence of an unruly mob for at least the next few weeks. One can only hope that the weather will be bad enough that even with the kind of funding the other ‘Occupy’ protests have been receiving (you didn’t really think this was an actual “grassroots movement” did you?), they won’t be occupying Confederation Park for long.

UPDATE: Thanks goes to MrAdBaculum for this video of a Marxist-Leninist at the ‘Occupy Ottawa’ protest not only defending Muammar Gaddafi but calling for the destruction of Israel (hat-tip Blazing Cat Fur).

Did anyone else find his anti-Israel/anti-semitic comments just a bit too much to stomach? Blaming the Jews for the world’s problems is one thing, it’s fairly common on the far-left, but calling for the destruction of the state of Israel really crosses the line.

He’s not the only one with these belief though. In fact anti-semitism seems to be a common theme at these ‘Occupy’ protests. Here’s a video from Reason TV of a Los Angeles Unified School District worker doing her best impression of Adolf Hitler.

Zombie at the PJ Tatler has many more examples of anti-semitism from the ‘Occupy Los Angeles’ protest for those who believe these displays of Jew-hatred are just isolated incidents.

One has to wonder how long it will be before the media reports on this. Will it be before or after these protesters express their Jew-hatred through violence? Pathetic…

With the death of Jack Layton, it is becoming quite clear that the New Democratic Party (NDP) is slipping, even at the provincial level. Jack wouldn’t think that he could make comments like those made by the NDP’s candidate for Niagara West-Glanbrook, Anthony Marco, and not spark outrage. What’s even worse is that Marco continues to defend his comments, unable to realize the political damage he is doing to his campaign by not apologizing for and quickly distancing himself from them. Here is Michael Coren starting last night’s episode of ‘The Arena’ by addressing these comments (hat-tip Blazing Cat Fur).

…But there are a couple that I would suggest burning, and it’s not even from an ideological perspective. Like ‘oh, burn stuff by Adolph Hitler …’ Whatever. If you want to read that stuff, read that stuff. For some people, the old politics of Nazi Germany might be their religion. And just as I can’t condemn other people’s religion, I can’t, I don’t agree with them, but you can’t stop somebody from believing in something. And to bash your head against the wall trying, is not their fault, it’s your fault. You’re the one who is pretty messed up if you’re going to devote your entire life to trying to convince somebody not to believe what they believe…

Despite what his supporters say, Marco is neither brave nor intelligent for making such statements. Insulting those who believe in God isn’t bravery, it’s socially fashionable. Canada is a far cry from the any Middle East country where such comments would lead to imprisonment and death. In fact, when you consider the context of his comments, it displays outright cowardice because Marco clearly states that he couldn’t condemn someone who followed the teachings similar to those of Nazi Germany. A modern day Neville Chamberlain? Urgh…

As for intelligent, where to start? The differences between Catholicism and Protestantism are far deeper than the differences between Coca-Cola and Pepsi. This isn’t brand loyalty, it’s a matter spirituality and the meaning of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Last time I checked, there wasn’t political and social upheaval with the release of New Coke, as there was with the Protestant Reformation. Aside from that, Marco brags about not being molested during his time as a Catholic. I’m a Catholic as well, so is my entire family, and none of us have been molested either. In fact, as Newsmax’s Jon E. Dougherty wrote previously, you’re safer with a Catholic priest than you are with a public school teacher (hat-tip James Hudnall from Andrew Breibart’s Big Journalism). A national survey for the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation in 2000, which examined incidents from 1991-2000, estimated that roughly 290,000 students had been physically sexually abused by their teachers. Considering there have been approximately 11,000 cases of abuse by about 4,000 priests and deacons since 1950, you’re a far more likely to be molested at school than you are in a Catholic Church. I wonder why we don’t see Marco bragging about getting through primary and secondary school without being molested?

Anthony Marco’s comments weren’t simply offensive, they were ignorant and, considering that he continues to defend them during a political campaign, downright stupid. Aside from costing him any chance he had of being elected, Marco demonstrates his lack of intelligence, as Michael Coren clearly pointed out. In fact, when you consider the recent political missteps made by the NDP, most notably Libby Davies’ effort to eliminate the 10-year residency requirement to qualify for old age pension benefits, this incident highlights the mental deficiencies of those now running the NDP, especially since Andrea Horwath, the leader of the Ontario NDP, hand picked Marco for the Niagara West-Glanbrook riding. Once again, Jack Layton wouldn’t have made these kinds of mistakes. Pathetic…

…In one posting titled The Real Reason, Marco takes a shot at all Ontarians, calling them lazy: “The real reason the economy is so messed up is because we’re lazy.” (The Real Reason blog post, lovehatethings.com, undated)

In a podcast, Marco says Canadians are just pretending to be polite: “Foreigners often call us polite but really we’re just making fun of you behind your back so we don’t hurt your feelings.” (Anthony Marco, Podcast 95, 2:25, lovehatethings.com)

When discussing a made-up game show concept, Marco discloses what he thinks tourists do in Thailand: “…and the winner gets a trip to Thailand where they get to engage in one of the great Thai pastimes, auto-erotic asphyxiation.” (Anthony Marco, Podcast 98, 9:00, lovehatethings.com)

On the importance of voting, Marco says: “If you’ve never found cause to drag your ass off your couch to get to a polling station and cast a ballot, I’m going to be the last one to criticize because I’ve been there and my couch has the indentation to prove it. My last word on the elections is that I hate the electoral process…” (Anthony Marco, Podcast 17, lovehatethings.com)…

If I were Andrea Horwath, I would have already dismissed Marco over his previous comments. The longer she waits, the more damaging these comments will be to not only her campaign, but the campaigns of other NDP candidates. Simply put, Marco’s a serious liability and must be dealt with as such.

I have to say I’m pretty impressed. The debut episode had some of the most controversial figures on various issues, which really helps set the tone for the show going forward. That said, it’s not without its issues.

Having been critical of Michael Coren previously for his jabs at Sarah Palin and her supporters, I wasn’t impressed by his assertion that Palin’s following is similar to the cult-like following those like Barack Obama have. I was also not impressed with Ann Coulter comparing Palin’s followers to those of Ron Paul, followers who, in my opinion, are very similar in their blind loyalty to Obama’s supporters. Considering Coulter’s loyalty to Chris Christie, despite his ever growing list of political faults, it’s almost like the kettle calling the pot black. Truthfully, I’m an adamant supporter of Sarah Palin, and while I would like to see her in the race for Republican presidential nominee, my fear is that she may split the conservative vote between her and Rick Perry to the point where a non-conservative like Mitt Romney gets the nomination.

Another gripe I had is Coren’s relentless questioning of Tarek Fatah on the foundations of his religious beliefs. I understand that Tarek and others like him follow a “moderate Islam” which rejects Mohammed’s teachings of violent jihad and hatred towards non-Muslims, so what’s the point in hounding him on aspects of his faith he doesn’t subscribe to? Considering Tarek had just won his battle with cancer and it appeared to be rather frail, I found it troubling to watch Coren go after him like this.

In any event, I will keep watching this show. In my opinion, ‘The Arena’ is much better than ‘The Michael Coren Show’. I prefer this format because it allows Michael Coren to discuss various issues, really get to the heart of them without being constantly interrupted by twits like Maureen Meed Ward who demand a strict adherence to political correctness. Well done.